Let’s Rewatch Nieky Holzken vs. Cedric Doumbe Before GLORY 42

This weekend in Paris at GLORY 42 Nieky Holzken and Cedric Doumbe will fight in a rematch from GLORY Collision, where once again the GLORY Welterweight Championship is on the line, but this time there is a different champion. Holzken originally won that championship on December 21st, 2013, only to lose it almost exactly three years later on December 20th, 2016.

While Holzken has lost outside of GLORY, including since the launch of GLORY, this remains the only loss on his record within the promotion, leaving him at 12-1 heading into the rematch. The question is: can this fight be different? Can Holzken not make the same mistakes? Is Doumbe once again in his head? If you have questions about how effective Doumbe’s head games are, look no further than the third bout with Yoann Kongolo where he makes the normally-respectable and composed Kongolo go berserk.

Holzken has only fought once since that loss, in April in a boxing match, where he was able to pull off another victory in his burgeoning boxing career, but he has not attempted kickboxing just yet, where as Doumbe has had the Kongolo fight in between the Holzken fights.

Doumbe seems like the next man to lead this division into the future, but Holzken doesn’t seem quite ready yet to let go. GLORY 42 happens this Saturday, airing live on UFC Fight Pass and ESPN3.